Reliance weighs listing Jio in two-three years

MUMBAI:Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is considering an initial share sale of its telecom unit Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd in the next two to three years, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

RIL plans to list Jio on the exchanges after the company’s consumer businesses, which includes Jio, overtakes its energy business in terms of revenue, the person said on condition of anonymity.

“Reliance Jio’s plans are massive and when it reaches that stage, the company shouldn’t be a 100% subsidiary of a refinery company,” the person said.

Mukesh Ambani-led Jio set off a brutal price war among telcos when it launched services in September 2016, triggering a wave of consolidation in one of the world’s most crowded telecom markets. The consolidation of the industry into about three large operators and an increase in Jio’s market share will set the stage for the listing of the company.

“Many RIL investors don’t understand data services or digital services and many of those who want to invest in digital services may not want to invest in refineries,” the person cited above said. “At some point, when everything has stabilized, you will have to give investors options to invest where they want to.”

“If we keep Jio as a 100% subsidiary of RIL, some RIL investors are bound to say that they don’t understand digital serviadding ces. Which is one of the reasons our stock price doesn’t reflect our true potential,” the person said, adding that RIL’s consumer business will be on a “par with its energy business in three years”.

Jio’s short-term plan is to engage with customers, and continue to add subscribers.

“There is no cutoff time, and there are a lot of decisions that need to be taken (for the listing to happen),” the person said, that keeping Jio separate from RIL is going to be a complicated decision, which not many at the company are currently prioritizing.

In December, Bloomberg first reported RIL was considering an IPO of Jio by early 2019, citing unidentified people aware of the matter. Emails sent to spokespersons for Jio and RIL didn’t elicit a response till press time.

In the quarter ended March 31, Jio added more than 9.4 million subscribers, taking its total users to 186.5 million, according to data compiled by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), becoming India’s fastestgrowing telco. During the same period, Idea Cellular Ltd added 9.1 million subscribers, while Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone India added 8.4 million and 5.6 million users, respectively.